Friday, November 16, 2012

PBS Documentary Explores Origins/Rationale of Important Endowment Partner

This weekend, November 18 and 19, PBS will premiere the Ken Burns documentary, “The Dust Bowl.”  The film brings alive the devastating drought that followed “the Great Plow-Up,” the result of a frenzied boom in wheat production across America’s Heartland.  

The program is of particular interest to the Endowment since it explores the origin and rationale for the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS).   The alignment of the Endowment’s goals with the work that the NRCS does has led to numerous partnerships on issues including water conservation, conservation easements, and stemming African American land loss through improved sustainable forestry practices. 

NRCS Roots in the Dust Bowl
NRCS was founded in the 1930s as the USDA Soil Conservation Service in response to the Dust Bowl environmental tragedy.  Today, the agency is leading the government’s efforts to support private farmers, ranchers and landowners to conserve our natural resources by applying conservation practices on millions of acres of agricultural and forest lands. The goal is sound conservation solutions that keep soils healthy, water and air clean, wildlife abundant and food plentiful

We expect in “The Dust Bowl” Ken Burns will remind us about how critical  the very few inches of top soil are to sustaining life and how vulnerable they are to human abuse and natural calamity.  As the globe seems to experience increased weather extremes, we are reminded of the importance of the mission of NRCS to help us ALL be good stewards of the land.

Chief Dave White Leaves a Legacy
We are also reminded of the importance of good leadership in government and salute the visionary work of Dave White, Chief of NRCS, who this week announced his retirement.   Under Chief White’s leadership, the agency initiated more than a dozen landscape-scale initiatives for wildlife and ecosystem conservation.  His work marks another chapter in a legacy that has seen significant advances in conservation all while the nation’s population has continued to grow.

We tip our hat to Ken Burns for documenting an important part of our nation’s history and to public-sector stewards like Dave White for their service.

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